A Perfect Christmas
by Tricia Loves A.C.E
Summary: In which Christmas is less than perfect. (Eustace x Jill, if you like.) 2016 Holiday Prompt Contest Entry. Oneshot.


"Oh, this is frightful!" exclaimed Jill for the eighty-seventh time that evening.

"They should have sent us home a day early," muttered Eustace, staring out of the classroom window. "We might have missed the _blizzard_ then." He turned to glance at the empty room, where he and Jill were taking refuge away from the rest of the school.

The girl let out a dramatic sigh, resting her head on a desk. "Don't even say the word," she moaned. "Oh, how dreadful this will be! Spending Christmas at _Experiment House_." She spoke the last two words as if they'd left a bitter taste in her mouth, even grimacing as she said them.

With one last look at the white world outside, Eustace left the window, crossing over to his friend and giving her a comforting pat on the back. "Cheer up, Jill. At least it can't be as bad as our last Christmas."

"Last Christmas? What on earth do you mean, Scrubb? Last Christmas was perfectly lovely. And besides, I barely knew you. There isn't much reason to go calling it _ours_."

"No," said Eustace, "I meant our last Christmas. You _do_ remember that we've spent several months outside of our own time- when we were off rescuing Prince Rilian?"

"Well, yes of course I remember," said Jill, a bit confused. "But Scrubb, we never spent Christmas in Narnia."

"Yes we did though- at least, I suppose we were _under_ Narnia. Do you remember our voyage across the sunless sea? When the gnomes were taking us to the queen's city?"

Jill shuddered. "How could I forget. That place was awful."

"Yes, well, in the midst of it all, Puddleglum had been keeping track of the days. Aslan knows _how_ , but one morning - or it could have been evening, one never really knows in places like that - we were looking off into the blackness, wondering when we would reach land, when Puddleglum suddenly spoke up-"

.

 _"It's Christmas day, you know."_

 _Eustace jumped, startled by the sudden noise after days of silence. "What?"_

 _"Today," said the Marshwiggle, seeming perfectly content to repeat himself. "It's Christmas. At least, up where they still have holidays, it is."_

 _"Well, that's just cheery. What do you mean by telling me it's Christmas when we've no way to celebrate it? We don't even know if we'll celebrate another Christmas. It's hardly fair of you, Puddleglum."_

 _"Come now lad, is that any way to talk? We might have had it a lot worse on the surface - probably frozen to death by now, if you ask me. At least down here we're warm, even if we are heading to our almost certain death."_

 _"Lor, you really know how to cheer a person up," muttered Eustace, settling back onto the edge of the boat. Silence returned, and he was left with his own gloomy thoughts as the boat glided on through the blackness._

.

"Oh, that must have been awful!" exclaimed Jill, now sitting upright and looking at Eustace. "I'm dreadfully glad you never told me, it must have been simply beastly to think about."

"Yes, it was. But it made me realize something."

"Oh?"

"I decided that if we ever got back home - if we ever had another Christmas - it was going to be the best one I'd ever had. Because it doesn't matter if everything is perfect, it just matters that we're here. You know... alive, together."

Jill blushed a little, hanging her head. "And here I am complaining about the school."

"Don't feel too bad about it," said Eustace. "It's not exactly my idea of a perfect Christmas, either."

"Well it's _certainly_ better than Underland." Jill stood up, crossing quickly to the window and leaning up against the pane. The whiteness of the outside world reflected in her glassy eyes, and Eustace thought she looked like quite a different person than the one who had been speaking only a few minutes earlier.

"What are you thinking?" he asked after a moment, stepping up beside her and leaning against the windowframe.

"I'm thinking... we shouldn't waste such a beautiful evening in Overworld sulking in a schoolroom."

Eustace smiled. "You sure? We might _freeze_ to death after all."

Jill turned and punched her friend's shoulder, bursting into laughter as she bolted toward the door.

"Hey!" Eustace laughed, scrambling after her without even bothering to grab their coats.

The cold outside air hit him instantly, but Eustace didn't care. He'd never been happier to be out in the cold in all his life than he was right now.

Jill giggled, bending down to grab a handful of freshly fallen snow, while Eustace kicked up great clouds of the stuff into the air.

"You know what?" said Jill, packing a lump of snow together in her hands.

"What?" asked Eustace.

"I think it's a perfect Christmas after all." And with that, she launched her snowball, hitting Eustace square in the face.

In the spluttering, squeals, and laughter that ensued, one can only imagine that they both had very good aim, not to mention the Puddleglum impersonations which came very soon after.

And in the end, it turned out to be one of the best Christmases they'd ever had, blizzard and all.


End file.
